Work

Tower of Babel in the Classroom: Immigrants and Natives in Italian Schools

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: We exploit rules of class formation to identify the causal effect of increasing the number of immigrants in a classroom on natives test scores, keeping class size constant (Pure Composition Effect). We explain why this is a relevant policy parameter although it has been neglected so far. We show that the PCE is sizeable and negative at age 7 (-1.6% for language and math) and does not vanish when children grow up to age 10. Conventional estimates are instead smaller because they are confounded by endogenous class size adjustments implemented by principals when confronted with immigrant and native inflows.

Source: Journal of Labor Economics

DOI: 10.1086/697524

Authors: Rosario Maria Ballatore, Margherita Fort, Andrea Ichino

Institutions: Bank of Italy, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, University of Bologna, European University Institute

Language: English

Topic: School Choice and Performance

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca